St. Peter's Church in Hope

A general view of St. Peter's church from the south-east

After spending a couple of hours exploring the vernacular architecture and the ‘Cathedral of the Peak’ in Tideswell, I set off on the Hulleys No. 173 bus to Hope, where I had arranged for St. Peter’s church to be opened for me.

A view from the east

I had passed this church numerous times in the car or on the bus but I had never stopped in the village of Hope until a couple of weeks earlier, when I walked there from Mam Tor with a couple of friends, after our trip to Rushup Vale with the Sheffield U3A Geology Group.

A view from the north-west

The squat broached C14 spire, which was apparently rebuilt in 1728, had always fascinated me, as had a similar one at St. Anne’s church in Baslow, and I started my exploration of the exterior by having a good look at it.

The west elevation of the tower

Looking up the west elevation of the tower, I couldn’t see any obvious changes in the pattern of the Millstone Grit masonry and Pevsner attributes all of the windows to the Decorated Gothic period, with the bell openings dated to the C19.

A general view of the south elevation

Moving anticlockwise, the two storied porch, with a parvise, projects from the west end of the south aisle and has various windows, a niche and an unusual castellated turret at the junction between its east wall and the south aisle.

The porch and south aisle

The style here is Perpendicular Gothic and this is continued in the rest of the church, with characteristically bold embattled parapets, crocketed finials and, on the porch and south aisle, several large gargoyles.

Gargoyles on St. Peter's church

The uniform appearance of the fabric throughout is an indication that the church was constructed relatively quickly without interruption, with the work dated to the C15. The tracery to both aisles is uniform, with simple cusps to the 3-light lower part of the windows and panel tracery above.

A general view of the south elevation

The uniformity of design in the Perpendicular style is apparently continued in the clerestory - although I didn’t manage to see it behind the castellated parapets to the aisles, on the two occasions that I visited the church.

The south elevation of the chancel

To my eye, the appearance of the chancel, rebuilt in 1881, is sympathetic with the mediaeval fabric and I assume that the straight headed windows have been faithfully reproduced; however, the Historic England listing describes the east window as being poor Perpendicular style.

The east end

In the churchyard, there are the remains of three old crosses, an old wayside cross known as the Eccles Cross, the steps and partial shaft of an old market cross and part of the shaft of an Anglo-Saxon cross, complete with knotwork and figurative sculpture.

The remains of various ancient crosses in the churchyard